On July 19, 1920, Babe Ruth hit his 30th home run of the season off Dickie Kerr of the Chicago White Sox, breaking the Major League record he had set the previous season. Perry Werden, working as an umpire in the South Dakota League was largely forgotten.
Babe Ruth
The Minneapolis Tribune, as a point of local pride, reminded readers that Ruth had not eclipsed the record set in their town:
“Beyond all doubt the mark made yesterday is a major league record of all time but the Babe has yet to equal the mark of 45 made by Perry Werden of the Minneapolis Western League club in 1895.”
Some reporters, like Al Spink of The Sporting News, dismissed Werden because “the park at Minneapolis, which was an unusually small inclosure (sic), with the right and left field fences close in.” Regardless, Werden was back in the public eye; his forgotten record was revived as fans followed Ruth’s record season. The Associated Press said:
“(Werden) admits that Babe Ruth has a harder swing than he had when he made his mark. ‘There is no doubt that Babe has it on all of them—modern and ancient’ says Werden”
When Ruth hit numbers 45 and 46, one in each game of a double-header at Fenway Park, The Associated Press said:
“(Ruth) broke all known world’s records for circuit drives in a single season.”
Werden, in his role as “the former holder of the home run record for organized baseball” was often asked about Ruth over the next decade. Werden called Ruth “One of the two greatest sluggers that I have seen in fifty years.”
Perry Werden, 1930
The only player Werden considered Ruth’s equal? Ed Delahanty.
Werden told The North American Newspaper Alliance, in a nationally syndicated story:
“Ed Delahanty would have equaled or bettered the home run record of Babe Ruth if the lively ball had been in use…If Delahanty had any weakness no pitcher ever found out what it was. He hit left-handers as easy and effectively as he did right-handers, and it made no difference to him where they threw the ball—high, low, inside, outside, curve fast ball or slow ball—they all looked alike to Big Ed.”
Werden said while playing first base for the Saint Louis Browns he saw just how hard Delahanty could hit:
“The Phillies had a runner on first base, and when Delahanty came up to bat we played in close for him, thinking he would bunt. That was a mistake we never made again when Delahanty batted. Instead of bunting he hit a ground ball so hard that it tore a shoe off George Pinkney, our third baseman, in addition to fracturing his right ankle.”
As further proof Werden said “Even with the lively ball…it was thirty-six years before Delahanty’s record of hitting four home runs in a single game was equaled by Lou Gehrig.” Werden didn’t mention that Bobby Lowe had accomplished the same feat two years before Delahanty.
Ed Delahanty
While Werden will never join Delahanty and Ruth in the Hall of Fame, he is remembered as one of the greatest minor league players of the 19th Century. He died in Minneapolis in 1934.
Baseball History Daily 